Timing's everything
by TheDragonflyInn
Summary: Summary: The episode 'The Real Paul Anka' ends a bit differently: Rory says she loves Jess, but she has to break up with Logan face to face before they can be together. Will she be able to leave him when his injuries turn out to be far worse than in the actual show, making Logan dependent of Rory, possibly for the rest of his life?
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: The episode 'The Real Paul Anka' ends a bit differently: Rory says she loves Jess, but she has to break up with Logan face to face before they can be together. Will she be able to leave him when his injuries turn out to be far worse than in the actual show, making Logan dependent of Rory, possibly for the rest of his life?_

* * *

After hearing Rory tell him that everything's fixed Jess leans forward and kisses her. Careful at first, but when she responds and kisses him back he reaches his arm out towards her waist and intensifies the kiss. Suddenly she pulls back.

"What?" He says, still leaning forward towards her.

"I'm sorry." She says as she gets up and starts walking away.

"About what?" Jess gets up as well, a confused and hurt look all over his face.

She turns around and starts slowly walking back towards him, her hands nervously moving from the hem of her shirt, to the buttons of it and back again, as if she doesn't know what to do with them. "Uh, about coming here like this. I just got the flier, and I don't know. I just wanted to see your place, but then this…it's not fair to you. I'm such a jerk."

She turns around to walk away again, but Jess reaches his hand out and stops her, forcing her to turn around and face him again. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Rory tries to focus her eyes on a point behind Jess, afraid to see the pain she's sure her next words will definitely cause. "And I couldn't even cheat on him the way he cheated on me."

"Who? Who cheated on y… that guy?" He sighs before he continues with a resigned voice. "You're still with him."

"Yeah." She almost whispers, as if she's ashamed of the fact that she's still with the guy that had cheated on her and that had acted like a first class jerk last time she and Jess met.

"I thought everything was fixed." His voice is restrained, but his body and his eyes can't hide the fact that he's disappointed, that he's hurt from learning she's still with Logan.

"Everything but him" She shrugs her shoulders.

"I hate this." This time the hurt in his voice can't be hidden and he doesn't know whether he wants to shout at her in anger or if he wants to cry. All he knows is that the emotions building up inside him are almost overpowering.

"You should. I'm sorry."

"You came here alone, to Philadelphia." He puts emphasis on every word, as if trying to convince them both that the fact that she came to him must mean something.

"He was out of town." She answers quickly as if that explains everything.

"I don't deserve this Rory." He says between his teeth, trying not to lose his temper.

"No, you don't. You don't deserve it. I just…I don't know, everything's such a mess." She looks like she's about to fall apart.

"Do you love him?" His voice is calm, but inside his heart his beating so hard and so fast it feels like he's been running a marathon.

"No." She says and looks terrified and surprised at the word that seemed to come out so easy and natural. "I don't know." She quickly adds.

Jess closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. "Why did you come here?" He says as he opens his eyes again and looks at her.

"I-I don't know." She buries her face in her hands. "I think…" She removes her hands and shakes her head. "I guess I wanted to see if it was real."

He looks confused and irritated. "If what was real? Truncheon? Philadelphia?"

She sighs. "The things I've been feeling since your last visit. I…I've been thinking about you so much." She starts pacing the room as she continues speaking in a rapid pace. "Every night before I go to sleep, every morning I wake up, I think of you. Everything Logan does I find myself wondering what you would have done in the very same situation. 'What would Jess do?' My very first thought when finding out about Logan cheating on me had nothing to do with him, or even me, the first thing that popped into my mind was 'Jess would never have done that to me'. But I was scared, I didn't know whether these things I felt were real or merely a memory of what we were, you know?" She looks at him for confirmation and he nods. She stops pacing and sighs. "And he begged me to take him back. At the time it all sounded so logical, all things he said, they made sense, and I don't know, but I think going back to him was a mistake." She shakes her head. "I _know_ it was a mistake." She bites her lip and looks up at him. "I came here because I think I love you, or I thought I loved you, and now I know."

A wary smile appears on Jess' lips as he moves closer to her. "Just to make sure, what is it you know now?"

She looks up at him and smiles. "That I love you. I know that I do. I don't know how you feel, or if you even want to be with me, but I love you and I want to be with you and if you…" She's interrupted when Jess closes the distance between them and kisses her.

While kissing her softly he runs his hand up her sleeve and cups her face. He draws his head back and looks at her. "I love you, I never stopped loving you. You're the only girl I would ever want to be with." He pulls her closer and hugs her tightly and lets out a deep breath. "God." He whispers into her hair. "It feels so good to say it. I love you Rory."

She wraps her arms around his neck. "I love you too." She pulls her head back and finds his lips again. There's a desperation in her series of short, intense kisses, as if she's trying to make up for the interrupted kiss.

He raises one of his hands and gently strokes the side of her face as he deepens the kiss, forcing her to slow down. He lets his hand slide backwards and entangles his fingers in her hair.

She moves her arms from around his neck and grabs the sides of his shirt, pulling him closer to her. His lips against hers, his warm body pressed against her, it feels so good, so right.

"I was thinking…" He says in between their kisses. "It might not be…" He kisses her again as his free hand slowly finds its way up under her shirt and strokes the skin on her lower back. "…safe…" He moans softly as she gently sinks her teeth into his lower lip. "…driving home tonight…"

She lets go of his lip. "It is rather dark." She says before her mouth is covered by his again.

"Mmm." He pulls her even closer. "You shouldn't be driving in the dark." Without letting go of her or stop kissing her he starts walking, pushing her towards the staircase.

"Visibility's bad…" She backs up on the first step of the stair with him following closely behind. "…because of the darkness."

"Deer." He mumbles against her lips.

"Yes…and small…furry…animals." She answers, her lips letting go of his for a few seconds a time, only to let the words out.

"I know for sure…" He places his hands on her hips as they reach the top of the stairs. "…those can be tricky…" With his body he backs her up against the door and lets his hands slip under her shirt and up along her waist. "…when driving…" Her hands find his bare skin under his shirt and the light touch of her fingers causes him to let out a deep breath before continuing. "…late at night."

Jess starts trailing kisses down her neck. "Logan." She whispers and feels his body stiffen against hers and his kisses stops for a few seconds.

"For future reference…" he mumbles while starting to kiss her neck again. "…calling me your ex-boyfriends name while we're making out isn't exactly the biggest turn on."

She pushes him away. "That's the thing, he isn't my ex-boyfriend….yet. I have to tell him."

Jess sighs and takes a few steps back. He takes a few deep breaths to regain control of himself before talking. "The one thing that isn't fixed." He says, matter-of-factly.

"Yeah." She arranges her shirt and looks down at the floor.

"But it will be, right?" He asks, the words sounding a bit more harsh than he had planned for them to.

She nods. "Yeah. I will fix it, as soon as he gets back."

He nods as well and sighs. "You want coffee or something?" He says and points towards the door behind her.

"Coffee's good." She says and moves away from the door, allowing him to open it. She bites her lip and reaches out to place her hand on his arm as he reaches to open the door. "This doesn't change anything." She says and meets his eyes. "I still want to be with you, only not like that. I want it to be right. I don't want my memory of this night to be over-shadowed by feelings of guilt."

He nods and smiles. "It's okay. I understand."

OoOoOoOo

"I still don't think you should be driving home in the dark." Jess says as he starts washing their coffee mugs. He casts a glance over his shoulder to Rory, who's sitting at the kitchen table. "I can take the couch and you can sleep in my bed."

She slowly shakes her head. "I couldn't do that. I can't drive you out of your own bed. I can sleep on the couch."

He puts the last mug in the dish rack and turns around, his back resting against the sink. "No. The couch is _really_ uncomfortable to sleep in, trust me, I've tried." He smirks. "You don't want to be driving back home tomorrow with a wryneck, that might be even more dangerous than driving at night."

She smiles. "But if the couch is really that uncomfortable I'm definitely not going to let you take it. After all, this is _your_ home and _your_ bed."

"And my couch." He adds. "Otherwise we could forget about sleep all together and stay up all night arguing over who gets to sleep on the couch."

She bites her lip and looks up at him. "You have a big bed, right?"

He shrugs his shoulders. "I guess."

"Okay then…" She gets up from her chair, but seems to have forgotten why she did it as she stands there, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "We're adults, we have self-control, you have a big bed. It's not like we have to share a cover or a pillow. We can sleep in the same bed without anything happening."

"Yeah, probably." He says with a face that gives no clue whatsoever to what he might think about the idea.

"Good." She says and smiles.

OoOoOoOo

She splashes some water in her face and looks up at her reflection in the mirror and smiles. For the first time in a very long time she feels happy. Truly happy. She's starting a future with Jess.

All she has to do is wait for Logan to come home and break up with him. It will probably not be that hard, he has probably felt it coming. They hadn't been the same since Honor's wedding. No, the rift between them had occurred before that. She had felt it when Jess came to meet her at her grandparent's house. His words had forced her to take a look at her life and realize how wrong everything was. How completely off track she was leading her life.

Jess' words had made her realize she needed to fix everything, that she needed to find her way back. The only thing left from that life had been Logan. She doesn't really know why she hadn't left him along with everything else that was messed up in her life.

He had been so good at persuading her. She had actually believed that he fitted in to her life, no matter how she lived it. But the truth was he didn't. He had fitted in well, great actually, in that other life – with that other Rory, the one that wasn't really her.

This Rory – the real Rory, belonged with Jess. Somehow she had always known it, but she'd been afraid to admit even to herself.

She takes one last look in the mirror before leaving the bathroom and finding her way through the apartment back to Jess' bedroom.

"Wow." Jess looks up as she enters the bedroom, wearing a t-shirt he loaned her to sleep in.

"What?" She says blushing as she makes her way to the bed.

"You're beautiful…and sexy." She quickly crawls down under her cover next to him and he leans over and whispers in her ear. "…the things I will do to you once you're rid of that boyfriend…you have no idea Gilmore."

"Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea." She whispers back, pulling her cover closer around her body.

Jess smiles and rests his head back on his pillow. She's lying next to him, inches away. Rory's lying next to him, wearing nothing but his t-shirt and some black underwear he saw a glimpse of as she walked across the room before getting into bed. He takes a deep breath. The t-shirt was all too big for her, and as she stirs around in her sleep it will most probably get tangled up and expose that soft, pale skin on her stomach.

He swallows and closes his eyes. She's so close. He can hear her breathing next to him. If he leaned over and kissed he neck and let his hands wander to all of those places on her body that felt so wonderful to touch, he's sure the rhythm of her breathing would change. It would fasten. He wants to hear her breath heavily as he touches her. He wants to know what her breathing sounds like when he touches and kisses different places of her body. Places he was never allowed to touch last time they were together.

And her eyes – they're always so full of expressions. All of her feelings are always shown in her eyes. He imagines what it would be like looking into those eyes as he… He shakes his head, trying to get rid of all the dangerous thoughts. He has to be patient. He has to let her break up with Logan first. A few more days, then she'll be all his.

A few more days, then he'll be able to rip that t-shirt of her and closely examine and get to know every inch of her body. He's going to take it slow the first time. Take the time to enjoy her body, make sure she's pleasured. His touches will be soft but determined, until she's begging for him to… No! This is not working. If he keeps this up it will end up in him throwing himself over a sleeping Rory and thereby going against her wishes for them to wait until she's no longer attached to the jerk.

But he can't help it. He can't control his thoughts with her lying so close to him, in the same bed, wearing next to nothing. He sighs and grabs his pillow and cover and starts climbing out of the bed.

When he's almost done climbing over her she opens her eyes. "Where are you going?"

He smirks as he makes the last moves to climb out of the bed. "I think both of us highly overestimated the amount of self-control I posses around you." He watches her blush as the meaning of his words sink in. "For this whole 'nothing should happen before you talk to Logan' deal to work, I think I better take the couch tonight."

"I should take the couch." She makes a move as to get out of bed as well.

He bends down and tucks her in. "Don't be silly." He kisses her forehead. "Besides…if you get up from under that cover and reveal those amazingly hot legs again…" He takes a deep breath as to retain control over himself. "I'm not responsible for what I'll do. I'm at the very verge of my self-control as it is."

He smile and grabs a pillow out of the bed before heading for the living room.

"Jess?" The sound of her voice stops him as he reaches the doorway.

He turns around and looks at her. "What?"

"Thank you."

He smiles and shrugs his shoulders. "It's one night. If only I give you the time to talk to Logan, I'll have a lifetime of nights to spend next to you. With that in mind, the couch doesn't seem all that bad."


	2. Chapter 2

_Thanks for the reviews I've been getting – you're awesome!_

_I will have a lot of things going on these next couple of weeks, but I'll try to update at least one of my three stories in-progress once a week!_

_I love to hear what you think about the story – reviews are always welcomed and appreciated!_

* * *

"So…" Rory says and looks down at her feet. "…thanks for walking me to my car."

Jess smirks at her. "Well, it might be broad day light, but you _do_ come from a very small town – I wouldn't want you to get lost on your way to your car."

She smiles and looks up at him. "You wanted to make sure I really left, huh?"

He takes a small step closer to her. "Only so you could come back."

She sees the sparks in his eyes when he looks at her, the happiness they've both been longing for is finally within reach. She puts her hand against his chest to keep the distance between them when he takes another step closer.

"I know" He says quietly and strokes her hair. "I just…I just wanted to make sure you were real. That this was real."

She smiles and strokes his chest with her hand. "It almost feels too good to be true, doesn't it?"

He nods but doesn't say anything; instead he caresses her hand on his chest with a smile on his face. He lifts her hand to his lips and softly rubs his lips against it. "Drive safe"

She nods. "I will"

* * *

.

* * *

While keeping her eyes on the road Rory reaches for her phone on the seat next to her. The name on the display reads 'Lane' and she smiles as she answers.

"Hold on a second" She says as she spots a rest stop not far ahead. She pulls into it and turns off the engine. "There. What's up?"

"What are you doing?" Lane sounds confused.

"I was on the highway and I wasn't sure about the talking-on-your-cell-while-driving policy in this state, so I figured I had to pull over."

"This state? Where are you?"

"On paper-business" Rory lies. She hadn't meant to let her tongue slip like that. She hated lying to Lane, but she had to talk to Logan before telling anyone about Jess. "Nothing interesting really" She adds to avoid follow-up questions. "What about you?" She changes the subject. "Your big day is coming up"

"My big day" Lane says and sighs.

"What's wrong?" Although Rory hasn't attended that many weddings, she's pretty sure that a bride to be usually sounded a bit more cheery when asked about her wedding day.

"Nothing" Lane answers quickly. "I don't know" She adds.

"Has Zach done something?"

"No. Zach's perfect…he's just…being Zach."

"Okay. So what's wrong? Are you getting cold feet?"

"No. At least I don't think so." She hesitates for a few seconds and then continues. "How do I know that Zach is the one?"

"Well…" Rory wavers. "You love him, right?"

"Yes, I do. I do love him. But maybe this is normal relationship feelings. Maybe you always feel like it's forever, you know? Like he's the one. I mean I've only really dated Zach and Dave, and Dave moved away but maybe if he had stayed I would have felt that way for him. I haven't dated enough to know what's real and what's not. Maybe I'm not ready to get married, maybe I jumped into this to quick? How do I know if this is really right?"

"When it's right I think you feel it. You just know" Like she had done with Jess. She had known from the beginning that it was right; that they were supposed to be together. It didn't matter if she were with Dean or with Logan – Jess would always be the one. She had known it since he came to town and she knew it now.

"Was it like that for you?"

"Yeah, it was" She remembers their first kiss, the happiness that had flowed through her body when she saw him standing there by the water. The happiness had been so overpowering that she hadn't given Dean a thought, she had just thrown herself at him and kissed him. Just like last night. Logan had been nothing but an after-thought. A bad conscience nagging at her, but not enough to stop her from throwing her arms around Jess' neck and crash her lips to his.

"Did you feel that way about Dean and Jess as well, or is it only with Logan you have that feeling?"

Rory frowns and stares at the phone, not knowing what the hell Lane's talking about. Then she realizes Lane has been talking about Logan the entire time, not Jess. Of course she had, she didn't know about the latest developments.

"You know" She says, trying to avoid the question. "You shouldn't compare your feelings for Zach to anything else. If you love him and you feel that it's right; that's all that matters."

Lane sighs. "Yeah, you're probably right." A short laugh is heard on the other end of the line. "I do love him."

"There you go." Rory smiles

"Okay" Lane takes a deep breath. "Freak-out's over."

"I'm glad"

"Thank you for listening"

"Anytime. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, for the bachelorette party, I'll be the girl with a silly smile plastered on my face"

* * *

.

* * *

Rory takes a deep sigh and looks around the apartment. It felt different somehow. It felt cold and strange, she never felt that before. Maybe it was she that was different.

One of Logan's shirts thrown over the back of a chair didn't fill her with the homely, familiar feeling it used to when she was alone in the apartment. Instead it made her feel out of place. Somehow it felt wrong being in his apartment after making the decision to leave him. But where else could she go? Wherever she went people would have questions, they would wonder what was wrong.

She sighs again and throws herself on the couch. She needs to keep up appearances until Logan gets home, it wouldn't be fair to him if he wasn't the first one to know about the break-up, well, besides herself and Jess that is.

Should she practice what to say to him? No, it was probably better to speak from the heart and to be as honest as possible without inflicting unnecessary pain. She probably shouldn't mention Jess. Or should she? Would it be lying if she didn't? What if he asks? If he asks she will tell him, but if he doesn't, it's probably better if he doesn't know.

She throws her head back against the headrest. She wishes there was someone she could talk to about this. She would have liked to discuss it with her mother or Lane, even Paris would feel great to talk to right now.

She picks up her phone from her handbag on the table and holds it in her hand and stares at it. There's only one person she could really talk to about what was going on, but was that right? Wouldn't that be like cheating on Logan? She bites her lips together and closes her eyes.

Maybe talking wasn't that bad. Talking to someone wasn't the same thing as cheating, was it?

She opens her eyes and quickly dials the number before changing her mind.

"This is Jess" He answers almost immediately.

"Hey"

"Hi" He sounds glad and surprised.

"Hi" She repeats, not knowing what else to say.

"Is everything okay?" His voice sounds concerned and it makes her feel good. He knows her and he cares about her.

"Yeah, everything's fine. I just…I just wanted to talk."

"Okay, did you have any specific topic in mind?" She doesn't answer, she's too busy trying to figure out how to formulate what she wants to say, so he continues. "Otherwise I could probably come up with a few, how about global warming – there's a lot to say about that, or maybe something lighter like–"

She interrupts him, not really listening to his topics suggestions. "How will it work, this thing…you and me? I mean I have school so I have to stay in New Haven, not in Logan's apartment of course, I could probably move back in with Paris, and you have Truncheon and all of these things going for you in Philadelphia. How will it work out? And books. Our books. We probably have a lot of the same books. How do we solve that? Do we throw one copy out? Give it away? I wouldn't wanna give any of my copies away or stove them in a box somewhere, but I couldn't ask you to do that, and we would end up having a lot of the same books taking up a lot of space and–"

It's his turn to interrupt her. "Are you having second thoughts?" His voice sounds serious and worried.

"No." She shakes her head but realizes he can't see that through the phone. "The opposite actually, I was just thinking about…everything…the future…our future."

"I don't know really _how_ we're going to make it work, but I know we will. Somehow."

"You sound so sure."

"Well, aren't you?"

"I want everything to work, I hope it will–"

"That's all we need, really. If we both want this to work out, then it will, somehow. There's plenty of time to pin out the details."

"There is?"

"A whole lifetime. Don't worry about it, okay? We'll just take one step at a time. One bookshelf at a time."

She sighs. "Yeah. And the first step would be to break up with Logan."

"If you don't want to do this, you have to let me know now." His voice is stern.

"No, I want to do this, I want to be with you. It just…it feels so weird being here, in his apartment, knowing that the second he steps through the door I'm breaking up with him. I wish there was somewhere else I could be while waiting, but I can't 'cause I can't tell anyone about this before I talk to him. It feels weird…that's all."

"I can understand that. But you're going to Stars Hollow tomorrow, right? For Lane's wedding? So it's really just one night you have to spend there."

"Yeah, I guess. I just wish…I wish I'd broken up with him before he left."

They both sit quiet for some time, as neither of them wants to comment on Rory's wishes.

If only she had broken up with Logan before he left, then she could be with Jess right now. He could be right next to her, holding her close. If she hadn't taken Logan back when he begged her to, Jess could have followed her to Stars Hollow and to Lane's wedding. Instead she had to endure an entire weekend, pretending that everything was normal; that she and Logan were still together.

"So…" She says after a while, breaking the silence. "I guess I should try to get some sleep."

"Yeah" He says slowly. "I guess I should try that too."

"Jess?" She asks, suddenly unwilling to hang up and lose the comfort of his voice.

"I'm still here."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For still being here…for agreeing to wait."

"What's another couple of days in the long run, huh?"

She smiles. "Good night Jess"

"Good night"

She crawls down under the covers in the bed and closes her eyes. She takes a deep breath and it feels like taking a punch in the stomach when she feels the vague scent of Logan filling her nose. This is his bed. Logan's bed. This is where they used to make love. This is where they used to be in love.

A strong feeling of guilt spreads through her body. She doesn't know if it's guilt for sleeping here, in Logan's bed surrounded by his scent and his memories when Jess is alone, waiting for her in his bedroom in Philadelphia, or if it's guilt for wishing she was in someone else's bed, surrounded by someone else's scent when in fact, she is still technically with Logan. Either way she feels guilty.

She gets up from the bed and moves towards the couch. She feels a bit ridiculous as she bends down and sniffs the air inches above the couch. It seems to be scent-free. She sighs and lies down on the couch with her head rested against the armrest. One night. One more night in this memory- and scent-filled apartment, then she could start to really move on.


	3. Chapter 3

a

_A/N: This chapter has been coming slowly… There's a lot of lines from the actual show, because I wanted to go with what happened in the show up to Logan's accident and I find that really hard to write seeing as it is not really my own words and it's hard to build something around them (and no matter how I do it, it always seems to turn out with a lot of –he said's and –she said's). I'm not pleased with how this chapter turned out, but it is more of a transition-chapter anyways, so hopefully you'll bear with me and I promise the next chapter will be better (and more exciting!)_

_Thank you for the reviews I've been getting so far – I appreciate them highly and hope for more seeing as they always get me in the writing-mode!_

* * *

.

* * *

"We have a wonderful idea" Rosemary announced as she and Juliet made their way through the Yale Daily News.

"We are going to Costa Rica" Juliet filled in before Rory had a chance to react.

"What?" She asked, confused and not really willing to rip herself away from the work she had on the computer in front of her.

"We're gonna fly out tonight and meet the guys at the end of their river-rafting trip." Rosemary declared, looking rather proud at the idea.

"We thought we'd set up a fabulous camp, dress up like natives, in grass skirts and coconut bras and meet the boys with food, fresh booze and shaving cream. What do you think?" Juliet said and Rory could feel both girls staring at her, waiting for an answer.

"I think you should double-check your guidebooks, 'cause I don't think Costa Rican natives wear grass skirts and coconut bras" Rory answered, still not really taking her focus off of the piece she'd been editing.

"Oh, who cares" Juliet smiled, not letting anything get her down. "There's only a small window of time were a girl can pull of a coconut bra"

"Well, thanks for the invite, but I can't" Rory answered, with her whole body trying to show them how engulfed she was in her work, that way hoping they wouldn't pick up on what was really on her mind, or rather: who.

"What, why?" Rosemary sounded as if she couldn't really believe what she was hearing.

"Don't you want to see Logan after six days without a shower?" Juliet interjected before Rory had a chance to answer.

"Or styling gel?" Rosemary continued her friend's argument.

"I have a wedding to go to, and I'm leaving in a minute to head home." Rory tried to explain, hoping the girls would settle for that explanation.

"Rats!" Rosemary exclaimed.

"Logan will be very disappointed" Juliet said in a last attempt to convince Rory to accompany them.

Nothing compared to what he'll be when he gets home, she thought and sighed. She needed to keep up appearances in front of these girls, there was no need to make anyone suspicious of her plans before she got the chance to talk to Logan.

"Well I'll hide the soap and the Kiehl's, and we can re-enact it when he gets back." Rory said and attempted a smile.

"Hmm, I'm feeling a chill from the north." Juliet said and interchanged a look with Rosemary.

"Okay, well, if you change your mind, and please change your mind, call my cell, we leave at ten." Rosemary's leaned forward as she spoke in a pleading voice.

"Have a safe flight" Rory answered the plea, hoping they would leave soon, which they in fact did.

Rory finished the last details of the layout and with a minor interruption from Paris she left the newsroom and headed towards her car and Stars Hollow.

* * *

.

* * *

Walking home from Lane's bachelorette party Rory felt happy. Happier than she had done in a long time. She had had an amazing night out with two of her best friends, one of which was getting married tomorrow – and with every hour passing she was getting closer to starting her new life with Jess.

"I have to make a call" Rory said as her mother stepped onto the porch, heading for the door.

"Hit the lights when you got to bed" Lorelai answered when she reached the top of the stairs. "And if I don't make it to the bedroom, please make sure I'm not sleeping on any shoes." She turned around added before entering the door. "Shoes leave marks on the face and I have to look pretty tomorrow"

Rory smiled. "I promise"

She waited until her mother had closed the door behind her before she picked up her phone and dialed Jess' number with a smile on her face.

He picked up at the second tone. "Party's over already?"

"Already?" She laughed. "It's two o' clock in the morning."

"But still, I've always figured bachelorette parties were wilder than that, especially when the bachelorette in question is a rock star."

Rory sat down on the porch steps. "Well, we had to call it a night rather early, 'cause guess what?" She waited a second or two for the dramatic effect. "We have to attend two ceremonies tomorrow."

"Two ceremonies?" He sounded confused. "Who else is getting married?"

"No one. But get this: Lane's grandmother showed up. Turns out she's a Buddhist and Lane's mother has been hiding the fact that she's a seventh day Adventist. So they have to perform two ceremonies, one for the grandmother and one for the mother and the rest of us."

"Huh"

Neither of them said anything further, but the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was a silence that felt good. She just wished he was there, next to her.

She hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell him that. "I don't know if it's wrong of me to say this, as I haven't broken up with Logan yet…" She started. "…but I miss you Jess."

He was quiet for a few seconds before he answered. "I miss you too"

That was all the confirmation she needed to get the courage to tell him exactly how much she missed him. "I know we haven't really been together for years, but now, when we finally figured out that we want to be together I miss you so much I can't think of anything else."

"You want me to come up there? I could say I'm there to visit Luke." He asked, trying to sound casual.

"Nah. It's ok. Apparently there's this big final party in Costa Rica tonight, and after that I'm guessing Logan will be on his way home. I'm thinking it'd be better if you weren't here when I talk to him. Besides, Luke's still on that school trip with April."

"Yeah. You're probably right" She could hear him sigh on the other end. "You should probably get some sleep, it would look bad if the maid of honor fell asleep during the ceremony"

"Yeah, I should" She got up from the porch steps. "Jess…" She said and bit her lip unconsciously.

"Yeah?"

"I love you" She smiled with her whole face.

"I love you too" She couldn't be completely sure, but she was almost certain that he was smiling too.

* * *

.

* * *

The wedding had been a trial. All was well with the bride and the groom; they were happy, both ceremonies had gone well and the party had been great.

But Rory had suffered. There was something about weddings that made people want to talk about things. Things like love and boyfriends and future marriages of other people that wasn't getting married at this wedding.

Her father had given Logan his blessing. He had told her he liked Logan and that he approved of them being together and she had sat there wanting to tell him that she didn't want him to approve; she didn't need him to approve. He might like her and Logan together, but she didn't, not any longer. But she couldn't say any of that, she had to sit through the conversation and pretend she was glad they were having it. He was trying to be a father and it was the worst possible timing.

And her mother… Her mother had accidentally seen a picture of April in Rory's camera and she had been forced to confess that she had gone to Philadelphia to see Jess. Lying to her mother was the hardest part. That; and seeing the hurt in her mother's eyes when she learned that she had met with April.

Now, here they were, having carried her home after what could only be described as The Collapse.

"Get her over to the couch" Rory instructed her father and watched him settle Lorelai down.

"Man, I must say, when your mother does something, she commits" Chris said as he pulled a blanket over her.

"Just prop her up. I'm gonna make some coffee" Rory said as she headed for the kitchen.

"You know hon, if the two gallons we poured down her throat at the wedding didn't do anything, I'm not sure what two more cups will." Her father interjected.

"Hey, no one knows how to wrangle the powers of coffee like a Gilmore. Just prop her up. She hates to get pillow face." Rory said before disappearing into the kitchen.

"Pillow face. Got it." She heard her father say to himself as he moved around the living room.

She was busy filling the coffee pot with water when her phone rang. Her first instinct was to ignore it, but thinking it might be Jess, she decided against that and pulled her phone out.

"Hello."

"Rory?" The voice on the other end, which she recognized, but couldn't quite place, asked.

"Yeah, this is she" She answered, a uneasy feeling starting to build inside her stomach.

"This is Colin – Logan's friend" He explained, as if she wouldn't know who he was only by hearing his name.

"Hey" She said slowly, trying to wrap her mind around why he had called her. Had Logan found out about Jess? No, that was impossible.

The line started cracking up and Colin's voice disappeared at times in a haze of white noise. She could make out the words Logan and accident.

"Colin? Colin?" She almost screamed into the receiver, panic running through her body at the word accident.

"…so they're airlifting him to New York"

"Colin?" She asked again. "Where in New York? What happened? Is he hurt?" She threw the questions at him, hoping that at least one of them would make it through to the other end of the line.

"…call you when we get there…" She heard him say through the noise before the line went dead.

As in trance she walked back into the living room. "Logan's hurt." She said, not really understanding the meaning of her own words.

"What, what do you mean?" Chris looked worried as he got up from Lorelai's side. "Is he all right?"

"I don't know" She shook her head. "That was Colin and the line was bad. Something happened on their trip. They're airlifting him to a hospital in New York."

"Oh boy!"

"I got to go" She said as she started to gather her things. "I want to be there when he arrives."

"Yes, go" Her father ushered her towards the door. "I can take care of your mom."

"Leave her a note that I'll call her from the hospital." Rory said before she stepped out into the hallway and left, heading to her car.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thank you for you reviews - I highly appreciate them!_

_A lot of conversation (and I really mean a lot) is borrowed from the show in this chapter as well, but since I added some of Rory's thoughts into the conversations I hope that you'll still enjoy it. _

_This chapter is the last one where that'll happen as the story will take a very different spin from this chapter on… I'll try to get the next one out before Christmas, I do have some time off so it's not impossible!_

* * *

As in a haze Rory rushed through the corridors at the hospital in search of the floor where she'd been told she could find information on Logan Huntzberger.

Pushing yet another door open she finally found some sort of reception area and approached the women behind it. "Excuse me, I'm looking for Logan Huntzberger, he's…" Without saying a word the nurse pointed her in the direction of another nurse.

Rory turned and repeated her plea. "Excuse me can you help me find Logan…"

"Sorry, this isn't my floor." The nurse interrupted her and left before she had a chance to ask who else might be able to help her.

Desperate to find out what had happened and what state he was in, Rory raised her voice. "Excuse me, can someone help me find Logan Huntzberger?" She asked to the room in general, hoping someone would be able to help her.

Almost immediately a nurse approached her. "He was just transferred out of the I.C.U, room 713" She pointed down the hall.

"How is he?" She was almost too scared to ask.

The nurse tilted her head and looked at her intently. "Are you family?"

"I'm his girlfriend" She stated, hoping that that piece of information would provide her with at least some information on his condition.

The nurse nodded. "All I can tell you is that he's not conscious right now and that he's in serious but stable condition." Her voice was calm and collected, very much the opposite at how her own voice sounded.

"What does that mean, 'serious but stable'?" She asked, hoping that she would release another piece of information.

She shrugged. "Just what it says"

"But is it more serious or stable? I mean, which way is it leaning?" She tried.

"I'm sorry…" And she really did look sorry, she had to give her that. "…I can only release more information to family members."

"But I'm his girlfriend. We've been together a long time. It's not a casual thing. We live together." She tried again. Living together – that most be a valid excuse for the woman to release more information.

"Sorry." The woman turned and walked back behind the counter.

Rory sighed and started walking down the hall, towards the room the woman had pointed at. When she approached she spotted Colin and Finn, sitting outside the room and fastened her step. They had been with him when the accident happened – they were bound to have more information.

"How is he? Is he okay?" She asked and looked between them.

"Scuttlebutt is he's not dead" Finn answered as he stood up from his seat.

"The man in indestructible" Colin added and she was slightly disturbed at the sense of pride and admiration in his voice.

"Dives headfirst off the cliffs of Caldera, instantly spins out of control" Finn started recapping the accident and Rory listened intently.

"Gets totally disoriented, barely gets his chute open" Colin picked up where Finn had left off and Rory turned her attention towards him.

"Bounces off every rock and crag in the park" Finn continued and Rory closed her eyes. This was bad. This was really bad.

"Yet still manages to stick the landing" Colin turned and directed his comment towards Finn.

Finn turned to her as if that piece of information would be of interest to her. "We gave him a 9.7"

"Had to deduct .3 for all the screaming and bleeding" Colin immediately picked up on his friends' joking.

Rory tried to steer them back towards what she needed to know. "What about his family, did you talk to them?"

"Honor is on her honeymoon in Mykonos, trying to get back, and Logan's mom checked herself into some sort of spa in Arizona the moment she heard" Colin explained.

"When the going gets tough, the tough get hot-rock massages" Finn deadpanned.

"What about Mitchum?" Rory continued, realizing that the only way to get information she wanted out of these two was to ask for it.

"The Dark Lord? We left word but haven't heard anything" Finn actually had the decency to look sad.

That look disappeared quickly though as Colin started talking. "But we've come up with a plan to get around the whole 'family only gets information' thing" Colin put his hands at his sides and stuck his chin out. "We're adopting him."

Not quite sure she had actually heard what she thought she had heard Rory asked: "What?" They couldn't be joking again, could they? Not in a situation like this.

"Logan will make a fine son" Finn stated.

"Of course, first we must be married" Colin continued, turning to look at Finn and Rory looked at them with her mouth gaping. She couldn't believe it.

"Naturally darling. I'm very old-fashioned" Finn answered and turned to look at him as well.

Colin wrinkled his forehead. "And even then, adopting as a gay couple is never easy"

"We just want to give love" Finn turned to Rory as if trying to explain.

"Oh, Finn" Colin reached his hands out towards Finn and he grabbed them as he replied: "Oh, buttercup"

Finally snapping out of her state of shock Rory raised her voice. "What the hell is wrong with you two? Your best friend is lying unconscious in a hospital and you don't even care"

"Rory…" Finn tried to interject, they both actually looked real sorry – but it was too late. She was already furious with them.

"Why the hell aren't you two lying unconscious in there, huh?"

"Come on" Colin tried to calm her down, but she didn't want to hear it. If only they hadn't been as reckless as him none of this would have happened. If maybe they had cared about the jump being safe or not packing a stereo and a box of cigars with them while jumping then maybe Logan wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed with God knows what injuries.

"You don't care, because if you did, you wouldn't be like this" She continued her angry rant. "You couldn't. You're supposed to have his back, you're supposed to watch out for each other on these stupid trips of yours. But no, everything is a big joke. Everything is hilarious. You're useless. Just go home. Both of you, go home. I can't stand to look at you" With that she left them and hurried down the corridor towards Logan's room.

The door was slightly open and she slowed her steps as she saw him lying in the bed with bandages, cuts and bruises covering his body. "Oh" The sound slipped her throat without her even noticing it and she covered her mouth with the back of her hand.

He looked so vulnerable lying there with machines beeping around him. This had happened while she was with Jess. She wanted to break up with him and now he's lying here, unconscious.

He had been reckless and irresponsible while planning this thing because he was hurt by the fact that she hadn't been able to forgive him. She should have been honest with the both of them and broken up with him before he left.

It was her fault that he was lying in that hospital bed.

She bit her lips together and swallowed, trying hard not to cry when a man in a with doctor's coat walked in behind her.

"Hi" She said and turned to him

"Hello" He answered without stopping as he put a stethoscope up to his ears.

"I'm Rory Gilmore. I'm his girlfriend" Rory explained, wringing her hands together in front of her and not quite knowing where to stand to be able to see what he was doing and yet not be in his way.

"I'm Dr. Schultz." The doctor explained as he bent down and placed the stethoscope on Logan's chest.

"Um, how is he? Is he gonna be okay?"

"I'm sorry, but I really can't get into the specifics" Dr. Schultz answered without taking his eyes of Logan.

"But, well, he's out of the I.C.U., So that's good, right?" She tried. "They wouldn't have moved him up here unless he was recovering"

"Sorry, really" His voice was tired and out the stethoscope in his coat and started examining Logan's eyes with a small flashlight.

"But he's had surgery, right? Does he need more surgery? Does he have broken bones, because I can donate blood if you want" She was desperate. She needed to know how badly injured he was. She needed to know that he would be okay. It was her fault that he was here and she needed him to be okay.

"Miss" The doctor said as he finally turned around to face her.

"You really, you can't tell me anything about what he has or what you've done or what's wrong, anything?"

"I'm sorry. It's hospital policy. We're doing everything we can." And with that he excited the room, leaving Rory alone with her guilt.

* * *

Rory sat down in one of the chairs outside Logan's room and picked up her phone and dialed a familiar number.

"What?" Paris answered after the first signal.

"Paris?" Rory asked, even though she recognized the voice on the other end.

"Larry Summers is right, Rory. Our university system is crumbling. Did you know that?" Paris started her way into a rant.

"Paris–" Rory tried to interrupt her, but it was in vain as the girl on the other started talking again and knowing her friend, Rory waited for her to get whatever the rant was about off her chest.

"I just found out my microbiology final is an open-book exam. Can you believe that?" She didn't wait for a response before she continued. "I mean why not just have our professors take it for us? Or better yet, they can just hand us our diplomas the moment we step on campus freshman year, along with some government cheese, a bong, and a t-shirt that says 'hard work is for suckers'"

When Paris finished her rant, Rory took a deep breath and told her. "Paris, I'm at the hospital with Logan"

Pars answer came fast. "Why? What happened?"

"He and his buddies went on some stupid life and death brigade trip, and they parachuted off a cliff in Costa Rica, and he had a really bad fall" She explained.

"Is he okay?" Paris actually sounded real worried, more worried than Logan's friends had done.

"I don't know" She sighed. "He's out of the I.C.U., so I guess that's a good thing. They said he's in serious but stable condition, but they won't tell me anything else because I'm not family"

"Is he breathing on his own?"

"Yeah, I mean, I think so" What did it look like when someone wasn't breathing on their own? Those machines in Logan's room, they had nothing to do with breathing, right? She had just assumed that he was breathing on his own, because that's what people did: people breathed.

"Well what's his pallor?" Paris asked and Rory tried to think back at what Logan had looked like. She couldn't remember. All she could remember was how vulnerable and lonely he had looked. "Is he peaked?" Paris continued. "Was there internal bleeding?"

"I have no idea" She answered. "I quickly scribbled down some things off his chart" She started going through her bag, looking for the piece of paper. "Um, you're pre-med can I read it to you, maybe you can make some sense of it"

"Forget it" Paris answered. "I don't know how to read charts yet. I can tell you everything you wanna know about the difference between recessive and dominant eye-color genes in fruit flies, but God forbid I learn how to read a chart before I'm a fourth-year surgical resident"

That had been her only hope. "Great" She muttered.

"What hospital is he in?"

"Columbia-Presbyterian, Manhattan"

"Who's the attending?"

She knew what Paris was thinking, but she also knew it was useless. If they wouldn't release information to his girlfriend they would most surely not release information to his girlfriend's roommate. "Paris it doesn't matter they're not gonna release information to non-family"

"Just give me the name" Paris demanded.

Rory gave in and told her. "Dr. Schultz"

"I'll call you right back"

"Paris" She tried, but she had already hung up the phone.

Rory watched as the nurse behind the desk picked up the phone and it wasn't long before her voice was raised high enough for Rory to make out the words.

"Miss please!" The nurse threw a stack of papers on the desk, looking rather irritated as she spoke. "That language is certainly not necessary!" There was a pause. "Hold on" The nurse said and handed the phone to Dr. Schultz with the words: "It's about Logan Huntzberger", and then she left, still with an irritated look all over her face.

She watched as the doctor she met in Logan's room picked up the phone. "This is Dr. Schultz" He paused, listening to the person on the other end. "No, that's not possible" There was a pause again. "You wouldn't do that" Now the doctor was starting to look upset as well. "Listen, miss… fine" He turned his back and lowered his voice and thereby making it impossible for Rory to make out any further words. But she leaned back in her seat, certain the caller on the other end was Paris and that the phone-call would soon be recapped for her.

A few seconds later Dr. Schultz was hanging up the phone with a beaten look. Rory sat up straight in her chair, waiting for her phone to ring – which it did merely seconds later

" Hello?" She was holding her breath as she answered.

"Here the deal…" Paris started and Rory was amazed at her skills at threatening people into giving away classified information. "…he was bleeding internally when they brought him in, and they were worried about the oxygen levels in his blood, but he's stabilized now, and they're back up to normal, so that's no longer a concern. He was also running a high fever, so they put him on mondo doses of intravenous antibiotics. He has a partially collapsed lung and…" There was a pause before Paris continued, her voice remarkably hesitating for being Paris. "…he's had injuries to the spinal column below the first thoracic vertebrae"

"What does that mean?" Rory demanded to know. She didn't understand and the confusion scared her.

She heard Paris take a deep breath before she answered and that alone told her that the situation was serious. "That means he most probably will be paraplegic, there'll no muscle function in his legs and lower torso…"

"Paraplegic" Rory repeated, feeling her head starting to spin. "Oh, my God" She bent her head down between her legs as she listened to Paris' further explanations

"They haven't been able to classify the severity of the paraplegia yet, they won't be able to do that before he wakes up, but it doesn't look good" She paused. "I'm sorry Rory."

"What…" She cleared her throat and sat up straight again. "What…" She drifted off. She didn't know what she wanted to ask. There wasn't any question that would take the edge of the news delivered.


	5. Chapter 5

_This is a very short chapter and I'm not very pleased with how this chapter turned out, but I need to get through it and onto the rest of the story already!_

_I don't know if maybe Mitchum is a bit out of character, but since Rory's not family and therefore won't get any information, I needed him to share a little with her. Hopefully it isn't too out of character (otherwise, let me know!)_

_And also: I don't really know that much about paraplegia, other than that I've learned from google. I've done a lot of reading though, and I hope I got it all right._

* * *

Rory sat in a chair next to Logan's hospital bed, feeling utterly alone and scared. She had no idea what it meant to be paraplegic. Well, she knew what it meant. It meant that you couldn't move your legs, or other parts of your body; that your muscles weren't working.

But she had never met anyone that was paraplegic. She had no idea what it meant in regards to your daily life, how you got through a day without being able to move your legs.

How did you shower? Did you have to sit on the floor when you showered? How did you get dressed? How did you use the toilet?

She shook the thoughts away, leaned forward and buried her face in her hands. There was no way Logan could make it on his own after this. If she broke up with him now, everyone would think she did it because of his accident, because she didn't want a disabled boyfriend.

Lifting her hands off of her face she scolded herself for her selfish thoughts. How could she be upset because she couldn't break up with him, when he was lying unconscious in a hospital bed, with severe injuries? She was a horrible person.

As if acting on a reflex she shot up from her chair when the door to the room slowly opened. "Hi" She greeted Mitchum Huntzberger, while nervously fidgeting with her fingers.

He simply nodded in response as he walked over the hospital bed and looked at his son. "I talked to the doctor" He told her after several moments of silently staring at Logan's unconscious body.

Rory bit her lips together and pinched her eyes shut, trying hard not to break into tears. She cleared her throat before she opened her eyes and answered. "It's bad"

Mitchum nodded again. "It's a good thing he has you" Mitchum turned to face her. "He's gonna need someone strong to rely on when adjusting to this"

She swallowed hard and nodded, afraid to say anything in case her voice wouldn't carry. She didn't want to hear his words. She didn't want to hear that Logan needed her.

"He's going to react childish and immature to these news" Mitchum continued and Rory started at him blankly, not believing what she was hearing. "He will need you to steer him in the right direction, make sure he doesn't drift off into drinking and sulking. He needs to keep his mind in the right place if he's going to graduate in June"

Rory gasped. _That's_ what Mitchum worried about? Not whether his son would ever be able to walk again? How he would adjust to that. He worried about Logan not graduating at the estimated time?

"We need to show him that life will carry on as normal. That…" He stopped and searched for the right word. "…this…" He gestured towards Logan and more specifically towards Logan's legs. "…doesn't change anything"

Rory softened a little at his words and offered a nod in reply. That did actually make sense.

"We'll have to hire a nurse to help you out when he gets to go home. You have your studies to worry about as well and there's a lot that needs adjusting"

'When he gets to go home', the words echoed in Rory's mind. He needed her there. At home. His home. Their home. The home they shared because they were still together.

If she left him, he would have no one. Knowing Mitchum he would only focus on the practical problems; hiring a nurse, adjusting the apartment, making sure Logan still graduated.

She doubted that Colin and Finn would provide with the support he needed. She had known them long enough to know that anything serious scared them. And this was a serious matter. It wasn't something that a drunken trip to Vegas could ever cure.

Maybe Honor would step up. Rory sighed. Sure, she and Logan seemed to get along quite well whenever they met, but the truth was that during all the time she and Logan been together he only met with Honor a few times and most of those times were at family obligations such as dinners or weddings.

The reality of the situation was that he had no one. No one but her.

"I've put my secretary on looking into the best physical therapy in the county, the doctor told me that there's a chance that this is what they call an incomplete paraplegia" Mitchum's voice ripped her away from her thoughts.

"What?" She asked, confusion written all over her face.

Mitchum turned to face her as he explained. "Apparently they make a distinction between complete and incomplete paraplegia, with the latter one, there's a chance for recovery"

"Recovery" She repeated and Mitchum nodded.

"They can't fully determine the extent of his damages until he wakes up, so all we can do now is to wait and prepare ourselves for the worst"

Rory nodded and looked down at the floor. The worst. The worst had already happened. She had wanted to break up with Logan and now he was in the hospital, unconscious. He was in here because of her. Because she hadn't forgiven him before he left.

While he was drinking to forget how cold she was, she had been sleeping in Jess' bed – wishing that Logan wasn't in her life anymore.

While Logan was throwing himself out of a plane and started bouncing down a cliff, she had been planning her future with Jess, dreaming about them finally being together.

It was her fault that he was in here. If she hadn't still been angry with him, if only she had been able to fully forgive him before he left, then he wouldn't be in this situation.

"There, there" Mitchum patted her shoulder, a stiff and uncomfortable gesture, revealing that comforting people wasn't something he did very often. It wasn't until she looked up at him and saw the look on his face that she realized she had been crying. "He's a Huntzberger. He'll pull through this"

* * *

"But what does that mean?" Lorelai asked over the phone, trying her best to be helpful and supportive, but her questions were starting to annoy Rory, mainly because she had no answers to them. She knew so little about this.

"I don't know. I've done some googling, but apparently there are about a million different types of paraplegia" She sounded resigned. "There's one website here that says a that a paraplegia could be compared to cutting the electrical cord to a lamp; you can no longer light the lamp because there's no longer any electricity flowing through the cord"

Lorelai hesitated, her voice sounding tentative and scared. "Is there…Is there any chance of repairing that cord and get the lamp to light up again?"

Rory sighed. "I don't know. Maybe. Apparently they can't determine the severity of the paraplegia until he wakes up"

"Any word on when he'll do that?"

"No. All I know is what Mitchum and Paris has told me, because I'm not family – so they can't tell me anything. The fact that I'm more worried about him than any of his family doesn't seem to matter _at all_"

"I'm sorry honey" Lorelai tried to console her. "Do you want me to come?"

Rory thought about it for a few seconds. "No" She finally decided. "I'm mostly sitting by his bed, waiting for him to wake up. Thanks for offering though"

"You sure? I have great sitting skills"

Despite everything that was going on, Rory smiled at that. "I'm sure"

"Okay" Silence ensued as neither of them knew what to say. The situation they were in felt unreal, like a bad dream; a nightmare.

"Honey?" Lorelai broke the silence.

"Yeah?"

"He's lucky to have you. You'll make it through this."

Rory knew her words were meant to be comforting, that they were supposed to make her feel better. Unfortunately, they managed to do the exact opposite of that.

"Mhm" She answered vaguely, not wanting to hear an extended version of Mitchum's speech earlier.

* * *

Rory wandered aimlessly around the apartment, trying to get a grasp on everything that was going on. The nurse from the ward had sent her home to take a shower and have a change of clothes. After much convincing and the reassuring words that the nurse would have someone call her if he woke up, Rory had agreed to go home, take a shower, get some sleep and come back in the morning.

She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and slowly drank from it.

She stirred as her phone started ringing and she glanced over to the counter where it was laying. The name "Jess" was lighting up on the display. She sighed.

That was the third time he'd called her tonight. She pushed the phone away without answering. What could she possibly say to him?

They could never seem to catch a break; there was always something to come between them, no matter if it was a long-lost father or an injured boyfriend.

But of course Jess would understand that she couldn't leave Logan right now, right? He had to understand that she couldn't walk out on him when he needed her like this.

It didn't mean that they wouldn't be together… It just meant they would have to wait. Just for a little while until Logan had adjusted to all the changes in his life. He would understand that, she told herself again. Either way, it was impossible to break up with someone while they were unconscious…

She just had to talk to him and then he would understand that they needed to wait. She pinched her eyes shut, trying to quiet that annoying little voice that kept telling her that he probably wouldn't understand.

She had to go see Jess and talk to him in person. She nodded to herself. First thing tomorrow, she was going to see him.

* * *

Rory fumbled in the darkness, trying to find the source of the ringing that had woke her up. She grabbed her phone of the nightstand and answered without looking at it.

"Hello?" Her voice was drowsy and she kind of still felt as if she was asleep.

"Ms. Gilmore?" The voice on the other end asked and Rory sat straight up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"This is she"

"I'm not supposed to call you, since you're not family" The voice on the other end started, sounding nervous. "But the nurse on the evening shift told me to call you anyway if there were any changes regarding Logan Huntzberger's condition"

"I'm his girlfriend" Rory explained.

"Oh, okay" The nurse still sounded very unsure. "He's woken up" She added hurriedly.


End file.
